Welcome to the creepy, freaky world of weird fiction - from H.P. Lovecraft to emerging star Jeff Vandermeer - where there's a very thin line between the real and the surreal. Also, the modern master of mythic fiction, Neil Gaiman.

Imagine the government has sealed off part of Florida after people start dying there and strange new life forms pop up. Just what is happening in Area X? That's the premise of Jeff Vandermeer's mind-bending Southern Reach Trilogy.

H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937, but his horror stories have influenced writers from Borges to Stephen King. Lovecraft had a special talent for conjuring up things so monstrous that words can't describe them, though he used sound to create his creepy atmosphere.

Lawrence Krauss isn't only a famous physicist; he's also the subject, along with Richard Dawkins, of the documentary film "The Unbelievers." He tells Steve Paulson that science has replaced philosophy and religion as the place to deal with the Big Questions.